To clarify: the title is excerpted from Act 1 of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. The full quote goes:
"Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile;
So ere you find where light in darkness lies,
Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes."
It's a warning against spending too much of your life in scholarly pursuits.

Day By Day

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Pennsylvania Photos -- Philly

"She Who Must Not Be Named" and I spent this week in Philly. I had some free time to roam around Center City with my new camera, a Fujifilm F100. Here is some of what I saw.

Billy Penn standing atop City Hall. For a long time no building could be constructed that would stand taller than Penn's Hat. Rouse corporation broke that barrier and now several office workers can look down on poor Billy. The new tall structures are nice, but somehow I miss the old skyline. Oh well, that's progress.

Revisiting another old landmark -- this is the gate to Chinatown. It used to be an exotic place. Now it's just another run-down neighborhood. Guess that's progress too.

And here is Claes Oldenburg's famous clothespin in its patriotic/corporate context. I remember when it went up. He claimed that it was actually a representation of two lovers embracing. Well..., maybe. I never cared much for pop art -- it always seemed to be sort of a scam -- but much the same could be said of all fine art. It's innocuous, and a lot of people like it.

And this is "Love Park" at the base of the Ben Franklin Parkway, featuring Robert Indiana's famous statue. Not the best photo, but I snapped it from a moving car. Not sure about the green water. Is it an environmental statement? Is it just that they haven't cleaned up from St. Patrick's day? Or have they completely lost control of the algae in the city's water system?

These are the Pennsylvania photos for this week. I saved some back for the future and will post them from time to time.